


Intricacies

by Issay



Series: One-shot collection [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, Hogwarts Era, Hurt/Comfort, Luna-centric, Multi, Secrets, mentions of eating disorders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 03:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10069634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Issay/pseuds/Issay
Summary: Being absolutely invisible to other people has its upsides. Luna breaks the school rules – Forbidden Forest is such a beautiful place! – and doesn’t really care about the curfew, and no one ever punishes her for it because they simply don’t see her do it. Luna knows all the nooks and crannies, the dark corridors hidden behind portraits and little dusty rooms great for studying or daydreaming. Hogwarts loves her, makes the stone under her feet soft and warm as she walks barefoot after someone stole all of her shoes and socks again. House elves leave her sandwiches and cookies when she forgets about meals or gets distracted on her way to the Great Hall.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Luna-centric because this character needs more love.
> 
> Spread throughout books 5 and 6, not fully canonical but, well, canon is sometimes completely irrelevant.
> 
> No beta (because this series is supposed to have 52 one-shots in one year, who the hell would sign up for this?), if you spot anything - let me know!

The thing about being Luna Lovegood is that no one ever notices her.

She doesn’t complain, don’t be ridiculous. Who would she have to talk to about it? Some higher power? And, actually, why should she complain? After all, being absolutely invisible has its upsides. Luna breaks the school rules – Forbidden Forest is such a beautiful place! – and doesn’t really care about the curfew, and no one ever punishes her for it because they simply don’t see her do it. Luna knows the nooks and crannies, the dark corridors hidden behind portraits and little dusty rooms great for studying or daydreaming. Hogwarts loves her, makes the stone under her feet soft and warm as she walks barefoot after someone stole all of her shoes and socks again. House elves leave her sandwiches and cookies when she forgets about meals or gets distracted on her way to the Great Hall.

But more than anything, being Luna means being the keeper of secrets.

She’s in her fourth year and the world is getting darker when one night she finds Professor Snape, bloodied and unconscious, at the bottom at the stairs leading to the first floor. It’s the middle of the night, theoretically she shouldn’t be there – but neither should he.

“You’d hate for them to see you like this,” she mutters softly and whips out her wand. Levitating him to the Room of Requirement takes some time but Luna is in no hurry, she can hear him breathe. Mrs Norris crosses her path and purrs at the Ravenclaw. They’re friends, after all.

“I’m sorry, not now,” whispers Luna apologetically to Filch’s familiar. “I’ll get you some minced meat tomorrow, ok?”

Mrs Norris disappears in the shadows, and Luna finally gets Snape to the relative safety of Hogwarts’ worst kept secret. She puts him on a freshly made bed – wishing for a comfortable place to heal someone gets you a row of beds with crispy white sheets and a cupboard filled with potions, apparently – and starts to work. Graceful motions of her wand mend flesh and set broken bones. She goes even as far as cleaning his black robes. She doesn’t dare to cast any spells on the silver mask.

Then, she waits.

Snape doesn’t wake up like a normal person – he just goes from unconscious to fully awake, hand tight on his wand. The man looks at her, perched on a bed next to his, like he doesn’t fully understand. Maybe he doesn’t.

“I figured you wouldn’t want Madame Pomfrey to fuss over you,” Luna says calmly, like a Death Eater’s wand isn’t pointed at her. “I’ve dealt with most of your injuries but I didn’t want to give you any potions. And it’s almost dawn.”

Snape blinks.

“Most students would leave me.”

Luna shrugs and gets on her tired feet. She didn’t get any sleep and it’s a school day but it’s okay because he needed help and Luna has a feeling Snape’s just like her. Invisible to others.

“I’m not most students, Professor. Have a good day.” She smiles at him and leaves before he has the mind to Obliviate her. Not that she would mind, it’s a huge secret to trust her with. But it’s always nice to have all of one’s memories, she supposes.

 

Snape seeks her out a few nights later when she’s sitting on a balcony of the Astronomy Tower, enjoying the cold autumn air and the night sky. To Luna’s slight surprise he sits down next to her – he’s not in his normal teaching robes, the moon is bright enough that she can see Muggle jeans and coat. Snape pulls also a very Muggle pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lights one with a hand motion, not bothering with a spell. She knows a demonstration when she sees one – wordless, wandless magic sends a rather clear message.

“ Why did you help me, Lovegood?”

The girl shrugs and offers him a cookie from the plate one of the house elves brought her some time before. Snape takes one. They’re good, chocolate and almonds with just a hint of spices.

“If Dumbledore didn’t trust you, he wouldn’t allow you to be there. The Ministry can say whatever they want but I know that the Headmaster isn’t a senile old fool. If I’m right, you still having a job means that you’re working for both sides,” she sighs eventually. “You know, if a fourth-year student can figure it out…”

Snape almost snarls and takes a bite of the cookie.

“They see what they want to see, Lovegood. And even if they do figure it out, what’s the worst they can do to me, huh?”

She considers it for a moment and nods. Snape lights another cigarette, apparently satisfied.

“I won’t tell anyone, you know. They wouldn’t believe me even if I did. But if you’d feel more comfortable with wiping the memories from my mind, you should, Professor.”

The man stares at her for a long time. She’s used to the reaction. She gets it almost every time someone manages to hear or see her. When he leaves without a word, she assumes he declined the offer and shrugs. But she appreciates that he didn’t say anything about the curfew.

(Some Ravenclaw students wonder who got them fifty additional points over night. If a portrait or two heard a Potions Master add points for “exceptional use of logical thinking”, they know what’s good for them so they keep their painted mouths shut.)

 

One evening not long before Christmas Luna follows the sound of weeping. The castle’s almost empty with everyone eating their dinner in the Great Hall, but she just couldn’t ignore the sound. So Luna finds Hermione Granger in a dark alcove, and sits down next to the brightest witch of their generation, not saying anything.

They sit like that for a long moment, until Hermione’s sobs subside. Luna hands her a handkerchief and smiles patiently.

“I’m so tired,” confesses the older student, drying her eyes and smiling sadly. “No, I’m exhausted. They expect me to know everything, to plan for everything, you know? We barely had time to be children and now the war is coming and…”

Luna reaches for Hermione’s hand and squeezes lightly.

“Then tell them that you need time for yourself too or you’ll get burned out before this war even starts,” she says softly. “The only way we get through this is together. Even the Know It Alls and the Loonys. You taught me that, remember? You and Harry and Ron.”

“Thanks, Luna,” Hermione hugs her briefly and stands up. “You’re going to the Great Hall?”

“Nah, I think a family of snorkels lives behind that statue on the fifth floor. I’m going to look for them.”

Granger throws her a strange look, a mildly uncomfortable smile and leaves with a small wave. Luna sits in the alcove a while longer, considering the girl that just left. She knows that the oncoming war will be a long and dark one, she can feel it in her bones. And people like Luna and Neville, like Ginny and Seamus will be taking orders, not giving them. For that, Luna is grateful. She doesn’t want the responsibility.

Her thoughts go back to Hermione and Luna smiles, a little sadly. For such a smart person, Granger girl can be surprisingly daft. Many smart people are, actually. They think Luna is somehow worse than them, worth less than they are, that she can’t give good advice just because she sees the world differently. But she’s fine with that. As long as she remembers they’re wrong she’ll walk the corridors with her head held high. Well, not always. From time to time pumpernickles are crawling on the floor and she likes to look at them. Can’t do that without bending a bit.

Luna laughs out loud and goes for a walk, still laughing. The cat-shaped earrings dangle cheerfully.

 

Sometimes people don’t know that Luna holds their secrets. Throughout the years her collection expanded but that’s only for her to know, others don’t have to. Like the fact that Lavender Brown sometimes cries in the girls’ bathroom because she doesn’t feel like she’s worth anything, or that Pansy Parkinson has a stash of Muggle beauty magazines hidden in an unused classroom in the dungeons. Luna won’t say a word about the hurried kisses and heated whispers exchanged by The Boy Who Lived and his supposed arch-enemy, Draco Malfoy near the Owlery in the middle of the night. No one needs to know about this and no one will.

But sometimes Luna tells.

“There’s a girl in your House, a third year with red hair and freckles. I don’t know her name, sorry. But she’s not eating, she disappears food from her plate when she thinks no one’s watching.”

Professor Sprout looks at Luna as if wondering if the girl is serious. She is. She would never joke about anything like that so she patiently waits for the teacher to make her decision. Finally, the Herbology Professor nods, her face serious.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, miss Lovegood. I trust no one else hears about this?”

“Of course, Professor,” Luna smiles serenely. “ I just thought you should hear about this. People don’t always ask for help, you know.”

The teacher watches Luna as the girl makes her way back into the castle, outer robe way too light for the winter, dance in her step.

 

Luna loves Hogwarts – but she likes it the most in the middle of the night. In her fifth year, when everything was almost normal again except for the war raging outside the school’s walls, she grew even bolder. That’s why at the end of summer term Dumbledore finds her at 2 in the morning sitting comfortably on the Ravenclaw House table in the Great Hall. Luna greets him with a friendly smile, it’s not the first time they’ve met like this.

She knows the Headmaster is dying. Hogwarts is already mourning him, deep sadness trembling in the thick walls of the castle, vibrating through the air. She knows she’ll miss the old man and she’s anxious that it’ll make the war even darker than it already is.

“He’s out again,” she says conversationally when the Headmaster sits down nearby. He’s very careful not to show her the hand he’s been hiding in his robes for the past year. But the deception is lost on her because Luna sees the shadows around him and knows the truth.

“Are you always waiting, miss Lovegood?”

Luna smiles with a tinge of sadness and nods, searching for words to explain it to the old wizard.

“When the war is over, after we’ve won… Someone has to know about what he’s done for us, sir. The sacrifices he made, the blood, the tortures… Someone has to know. You won’t be there, I know. So I figured it might as well be me.”

Dumbledore’s eyes don’t twinkle when he watches her in something that looks like confusion and wonder.

“Take care of them for me, would you? After I’m gone. Make sure they don’t stray from the path, miss Lovegood.”

“Of course, sir.”

They sit in silence for a moment more until a house elf pops into existence to inform them that Severus Snape returned and requires assistance. At that Luna slides off the table, nods her goodbye to the Headmaster and leaves.

Albus watches her go, thinking about how hope can be found in the strangest of places, and smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on tumblr!](http://issayscorner.tumblr.com/)


End file.
